Drag Racing Story of the Day!

Blazing 'Liner

By Don Ewald

Herm Petersen's Streamliner at Pomona '74. Photo by Don Ewald

Here's a shot I found that for me has TONS of history. To make a very
long story short... I spent MANY hours/days at Woody's helping to build
this piece while Herm was in the hospital. It was something Woody wanted
to try and Sam Fitz (Herm's partner) pulled out the checkbook and said,
"Do it." This was the first time it ever ran (Pomona - 1974),
Herm driving. This was just seven months after he was so terribly burned
at OCIR. So, what does the ol' Donovan do -- catches fire (not
bad).

Anyway, in the end the car only had a total of 30 some laps put on
it. I counted for six. It wasn't hard to drive, but the Donovan couldn't
pull the weight. It was flat too heavy... but what a work of art. Would
like to have seen it with a 460" KB, but that never happened. It
was retired in mid 1974 and replaced with a conventional car. The car
now sits in Garlits' Museum, slick as ever.